Somehow this seems impossible, given Tesla’s occasionally parlous finances — much of their revenue has come, not from selling whiz-bang electric cars, but from trading California emissions credits — yet it is inarguably so. About the only automotive factoid that could shock me more would be finding out that Morgan, the 104-year-old maker of three-wheelers and wooden-framed sports cars that look 104 years old, or seventy anyway, is the largest British automaker still under British ownership.

The NHTSA chided Tesla for that “5.4 stars” thing, claiming it was an improper use of their rating scale, but otherwise, there wasn’t anything arguable in the whole rapturous litany.

I figure Tesla, unlike some of the other boutique makers, has a pretty good chance of survival: the products are built to a high standard, and they’ll have the benefit of tax credits for a while longer yet. If they can ever get that range up to about 350 miles, I may have to put my name on the waiting list.